Howdy all! So this past week has been basically fantastic. Thursday we had Zone Conference, had another great opportunity to learn from Pres. Saylin. Then we had a gift exchange thing after it. I got some nice new socks along with some gift cards. Not sure which I was more excited for... Anyways, it was good talking to y'all on Saturday and to hear that all is well with the Fam.

Thanks for all the nifty giftys for Christmas! On Buena Noche (Christmas Eve) we ate with the Orellana family; it was amazing. Then Christmas day we opened presents and had a zone activity; it was a pancake breakfast and then white elephant. The present I gave was little army men and a bag of Mung Beans that have been sitting in our apartment for who knows how long. Then our Christmas dinner consisted of Hamburger Helper and bread because the mother of the house we went to ended up having her baby so the dad cooked. But it was great to spend time with the members and even some investigators on that day.

One cool experience I had was on Christmas Eve.  We went to Walgreens to get the White elephant gifts and when we first pulled up we saw "Old Hillbilly",  a homeless man that Elder Jensen has talked to before and given a Book of Mormon to. He told us how much he loves it and he even took it to the steps of the court house and started reading it when people were telling him to throw it away and stuff. Anyway, we talked with him and invited him to church and just as we were about to end with a prayer a woman who had come out of the store just walked up and set some groceries by him and said, "Merry Christmas". It was very humbling to see the charity around this Christmas season and it definitely softened my heart.

Other than that, we got transfer news this morning. Turns out Elder Jensen is staying here and I am too. I'm stoked for this next transfer here in Galveston and to see many more miracles.

Anyways, Love ya all. Peace and blessings, Elder Cooley

No worries about the letters, we might start emailing on Mondays now. Thanks for the Cheese! I remember asking for it last year for Christmas but totally had forgotten.  Before we opened it I was talking it up to my companion and he thought I was a weirdo talking about cheese and such, but when he tasted it he loved it. I haven't gotten any Christmas packages yet, if you sent them to the mission home then they'll probably hand them out at zone conference on Thursday. One thing I’ve missed from Mesa is going to see the temple lights, but it’s good to hear that y'all are having some fun times!

Yeah, President and Sister Saylin are the best! He is a convert and he has such an amazing testimony and I’m surprised he hasn't been translated yet.

The Carranzas have been coming back to church and on Dec. 18th me and Elder Jensen had the opportunity to baptize and confirm Joseph (14), Ricky (10), and Caleb (8). Joseph and Donavan (13) also received the priesthood and it will be awesome to see them fulfilling their callings! Also this past week we taught a few guys from Guatemala and Honduras who have only lived here for about 6 months and when we taught the  first lesson and testified I could see in their eyes that the spirit was testifying to them of the truthfulness of what we were teaching.

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders; I went with Elder Oliver up to their area in League City and taught English. It was fun to get to know amazing people who were working towards baptism and who were recent converts. Anyways, I love this missionary work and it’s awesome to hear all the work going on back home! I can’t wait to get home and help out missionaries there; I'm beginning to learn how important members are. Anyways, talk to ya on Saturday and such.

Love y'all, Elder Cooley

Hey! This past week has been good! I had the opportunity to go to an all day leadership training on Tuesday that Pres. Saylin held. It really strengthened my faith and learned a lot. Also this week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with my district leader Elder Cowan. Since this is a bi-lingual district, he is English speaking. So it was me and him for most of the lessons. It was an opportunity to exercise my faith and we were able to teach 5 lessons that day, most of which Elder Cowan didn’t know what was going on. But it was good for me to use my Spanish without the help of Elder Jensen and I feel the Lord helped me tremendously to communicate the feelings of my heart to these wonderful people.  While on the exchange we ran into an interesting man who used the Bible to support his theory of aliens and a bunch of other crazy stuff. Also on the exchange we went to teach Angel, as we waited outside for the sisters to be done with their lesson. Quick background, Angel lives with Abraham Perez, a member from the English ward who speaks Spanish. Abraham is basically the best member missionary I have ever seen.  He was baptized 2.5 years ago and shares the gospel in everything he does. He tells us how he is just so full of the love of Christ and wants to share it with everyone; so sometimes he'll schedule lessons at his house for the sisters and elders at the same time so we started coordinating with the sisters. Anyways, the sisters were almost done so we waited outside. We see Angel walking up, staggering, calling us his amigos, and almost walked into the wrong door. It was pretty obvious he was drunk. As we talked with him I realized and gained a further testimony of how much alcohol changes people and causes them to not be able to feel the spirit.  So that lesson ended quickly and it was sad to see one of my investigators like that.

Other than that we have seen the heart of the stepdad of the familia Carranza be softened. He has told us how he loves coming to church and loves having us over. I love that family so much! It has been good to see them come to church and see the changes that have happened in their family.

Anyways for Christmas, we'll go to a member’s house and you can call us after 3 sometime. I'll have more next week like the number to call and what time exactly but that’s the basics. Anyways, love ya all and keep the faith!

Elder Cooley

Adam and Jessie are expecting another one?!  That is Fantastic!  I really appreciate all the pictures of the family and the awesome pictures that the kids have drawn. They are way good artists. That's cool you received the letter from Pres. and Sis. Saylin; they are basically amazing.

I had the opportunity to attend an all day leadership training with Elder Jensen yesterday. There were some grulesome role plays but all in all it was awesome, got to learn a lot from Pres. and Sis. Saylin. President Saylin is a convert and he has an amazing testimony and hearing his always strengthens my own. At the end I was able to have an interview with him which was a very delightful experience.

So, Alvaro Arevalo, after coming to church last week we talked to him Wednesday and he said he loved it! And that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he wants to change his life! We had him set for a baptismal date for Dec. 18th which is the weekend for our mission-wide goal for every companionship to baptize or "Weekend in White" so every missionary can have a white Christmas and to reach our mission's goal of baptisms for the year.  As of now we lack 80 baptisms and a lot of faith is required to reach the goal, but I know it’s possible. Anyways, Alvaro told us on Wednesday he might be going to Mexico to work until January but he didn’t think it'd happen. Well when we returned on Friday he wasn’t home.  We called him and found out he was on his way to Mexico. It was kind of a letdown; but he's way awesome and we're going to hook him up with the address for the church down there. The one sure date that we have for the “Weekend in White” is for a part member family.  We'll be baptizing one of the boys named Caleb. The whole family is so awesome.  The mom is baptized and there are 5 kids; the 3 oldest have already been baptized. The stepdad isn’t a member, as of now. But they are awesome and love coming to church, so yeah.

We've been teaching Angel Garcia who lives with a member.  He reads 4-6 chapters a night and loves the church but he wants to feel ready for baptism before accepting a date so there are some miracles to be had there. Also this past Saturday during our lunch and dinner hours we went to this parade deal in downtown Galveston called Dickens on The Strand, where they celebrate Charles Dickens and such. A recent convert in the English ward got us tickets; he's lived on the island his whole life and is about 70+. There is a lot of history here in Galveston and it's a wonderful place to serve.

Anyways, I know that where there is faith, there are miracles. When coupled with obedience there is nothing that can’t be done. This is the Lord's work and I feel privileged to be an instrument in His hands. I love you all and thank you for everything!

-Elder Cooley

At the ward Christmas Party

Sounds like y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My Thanksgiving consisted of 2 dinner appointments back to back; it was a bad idea seeing as how I could barely ride my bike after. However it was fun to eat with the members and share a thanksgiving message with them. That is awesome that Sis. Anderson can go to the temple again! I've been meaning to ask, how is everyone in the ward? How's Quintin Begay? How's everyone? That's awesome how Elder Scott got changed to Spanish, it’s a lot to learn but the gift of tongues is very real. I met an elder from the MTC that as soon as he got in the field his call changed to Spanish and he said he was amazed at how fast he was learning the language.

So update on Mando, he was interviewed by someone in the mission presidency since we can’t teach Muslims without them getting an interview from them. He passed the interview and the sisters are beginning to teach him, he has come to church the past 2 weeks and me and Elder Jensen are going tonight to see how he's doing.

We have experience many miracles the past couple weeks, we have gotten 23 new investigators and we are slowly but surely helping them progress. One night I was praying and was asking were the Lord wanted us to go, I heard a distinct voice say,"Go all the way", and then the thought came that we should go to the end of our area the next day. I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure if I was crazy or if it was a prompting from the Holy Ghost. As we followed through with it we went to the end, neglecting some visits that we had planned on doing at that time. We got to the end of the area and didn’t know what to do, we starting knocking doors and nothing was going our way. We decided around 5:30 to go and see the people we had planned on seeing at 3 (These weren’t visits we set with the people, but rather to stop by to schedule a lesson). As we got there we knocked on the door and no one answered. We decided to knock the door across the hall and then a man answered. We introduced ourselves and Elder Jensen asked, "What is the importance of Jesus Christ in your life?" The man thought and said, "That is a good question" he then let us in and as we taught the 1st lesson he and I remembered that we had seen each other a few days earlier. He was talking to a friend and we were riding our bikes, we didn’t stop to talk but I smiled and waved at him. During the lesson he said it was a sign from God that we were there. As we gave him a Libro de Mormon he was very anxious to read, we set a baptismal date and as we scheduled another lesson we learned that he gets home from work at 5 everyday. If we had come at the time we had planned we would not have met him.

It is amazing how involved the Lord is in this marvelous work! Many other miracles have happened this past week and I wish I had time to explain them but anyways, I love y'all and I pray that the Lord will bless you in your lives and that you will be able to see the miracles he performs.

Con gran amor,

Elder Cooley

 

Hola! Como estan ustedes? This past week has been very eventful and awesome! Tuesday when we arrived we did some contacting (in Spanish) which was way fun. Then we ate dinner with Pres. Saylin and his fam that night. Wednesday morning we received some more orientation and such, we also had breakfast which was Kolaches, basically a delicious hot pocket and didn’t taste like a dirty microwave so I was definately a fan of them. Then I met my trainer, Elder Jensen from Highland Utah, he reminds me a lot of Craig Roberts. Anyways I got assigned to Galveston, (La Isla) as people call it. I feel way blessed to be here and work among these people. We have the beach in our area but can’t go on it or even drive/ride by it during the summer for obvious reasons.

So our first night we were fed by a couple in the branch, it was very humbling to see people who had very little give so much to feed us. Then later that night we did some finding, we didn’t have many investigators that night. But we decided to kneel down near a park, say a prayer, and go wherever. After we prayed we got up and headed a direction. Elder Jensen left it up to me and since I didn’t know the area I just headed off. After knocking about 3 doors we got to a door where as soon as we knocked they let us in. It was a man named Mando and his son. Turned out Mando has lived here 3 years and was a general in the Pakistan Army. Anyhow... I committed him to baptism and he is a pretty cool guy. His son is really scarred up from some stuff that happened in Pakistan so Mando says he wants peace and freedom for his son and we told him the gospel brings that. He loves Jesus, he says He is the International King, his water, his oxygen, and his light. We got him to come to church with his son and he loved it but sadly we have to turn him over to the English sisters.

There have been a lot of experiences; I was able to give a blessing to a less-active member who was going through some hard stuff. We fasted on Saturday so that we could find more people to teach and to have a baptism by the 18th or 19th of December and we have been teaching a lot more and I have faith that if we do our part then the Lord will do his. This goal is a mission wide goal that came straight from Pres. Saylin so I know it’s possible. I have seen many miracles in this past week and I feel extremely blessed to be able to serve a mission! I wish I could tell y'all everything but time just won’t permit it. Entonces, Los amo muchisisimo y estoy muy agradecidos tener una familia eterna. -Elder Cooley

This is the first day in Houston with all the arriving Elders and Sisters

and our Mission President and family.

With President and Sister Saylin

Deep in the heart of Texas!

Hey All!

So I leave for Texas tomorrow morning! Estoy demaciado animado! That is awesome about the regional conference and all.  I love hearing from the prophets and apostles. In fact, last Tuesday for the 4th time, we got to hear from an apostle.  Elder David A. Bednar gave an absolutely amazing talk, probably one of my favorites ever. He talked about how Doctrines are simple revealed truths that have to do with our salvation, and Principles are guidelines for exercising moral agency in line with those principles, and then Applications, which is what we do. Doctrine answers the question "why?”, Principles answer the question "What?", and Applications answer the questions of "How?'. He said too often in the church we try to fix problems with applications.  Por ejemplo, if Home Teaching needs to be improved, some just address the problem with an application and just tell them what to do.  He said in order to be most effective, address the doctrine behind home teaching and when they understand it in their Hearts, that’s when they become committed and improvement happens. "The study of doctrine will change behavior more than the study of behavior will".  He said "The answer is always the doctrine"; one major doctrine is that God is our Loving Heavenly Father and we are his children.

Other than that we had a testimony meeting in our district on Saturday night with one of our teachers, Hna. Scaife, and it was basically amazing.  We also had the opportunity this week to train the new zone leaders and they are gonna do great things.  I am way excited to get out into the field and teach the gospel with the little Spanish that I can teach, but I have faith that as I work hard and trust in the Lord he will provide.

So I received a letter from my mission president about what will happen the next couple days. He'll be there to pick us up.  We'll have some interviews, dinner, and a testimony meeting.  Then since they have 6 kids, we'll be staying the night at some elders’ appartment nearby.  Then Wednesday morning receive a little training and then meet our trainers.  There are 8 of us total heading to Texas, not sure we'll all be in the same mission, but for sure Elder Simmons and Elder Dalley.  I love this work and I am so humbled and priveleged to be a part of it.  He sentido muy debil este semana pasado pero tengo fe en Jesucristo y en el poder del expiacion.  Se que Dios vive, tuve la oportunidad ir al templo este manana y senti el amor de Dios para mi y para todo el mundo.  Entonces, los amo muchisimo y tenga un buen dia!  

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

Gracias por el abrigo! I got some awesome letters including pictures of Mae, Emmie, Benton (Along with some awesome pictures they drew! made my day) and then pictures of Troy in his mobster outfit (classy), and then today I got a letter from Alicia including pictures of Pepper, Dakota, and the fam, along with some awesome pictures that Dakota drew (with Curious George).

Entonces, gracias for all of the amor! So this week, Tuesday, for the THIRD Tuesday in a row we heard from an apostle, this time M. Russell Ballard, it was way awesome! All of the apostles so far have spoken of the importance of having a smile to show that this gospel is a gospel of happiness. Then on Wednesday we received 20 new elders in our zone and me and Elder Simmons got to orient them and such. It’s my favorite part of being a zone leader because they are usually so shell-shocked and the first few days are overwhelming but all these elders are way sharp. There's an Elder Fisher from Goodyear.    I was talking to him and found out that he went to high school in Springville with Brea and said he knew the Hardesty's and such.  Small world!

Then on Thursday I received my travel plans!! I leave Nov. 16th at 5 am, my flight leaves at 8:25 then I arrive at Houston around 12:30. Only one week left in the MTC so we're trying to soak up all we can here before we go in the field. I am so stoked to be in the field!

Then yesterday we got to hear from Sheri Dew for the fireside. She had 3 main points that she said would help us in our lives to become more powerful disciples.  1-Know who we are and where we come from (Children of God, we have been saved for these last days because in premortality we developed the talent of spirituality, quote from George Q. Cannon I believe),  2-Know the atonement intimately and become familiar with the enabling power of it. Then 3-Learn to be receptive to personal revelation. It was an awesome talk!

And Sean is going to Tallahassee Florida! That is epic! He and Chase will be in the MTC at the same time, also epic. Anyways, I love y'all and pray for y'all often. The Gospel is awesome and true. Learn it, Live it, Love it.

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

This past week was awesome! And this past month and a half also. Thank you for the cookies (my zone gobbled them up in minutes and they were very delicious!) and the talk. Yeah if you could just mail the ones from home that would be great! And if you could get Brian to mail me my baja sweater jacket abrigo deal that'd be cool since its getting colder and I don’t have a pday jacket.

So I forgot to tell you that 2 Tuesdays ago we had the opportunity to hear from Russell M. Nelson for devotional, it was asombroso. I was about 20 feet away from him and he said some great stuff.  He said if you don’t know the answer to a question just say "We follow Jesus Christ", so that was obviously some good advice. Then this past Tuesday we went to devotional not expecting a general authority because they don’t come much but turned out that Richard G. Scott talked on being led by the spirit! It was epic.  He invoked several blessings upon the missionaries using his apostleship, and the spirit was so strong! He invoked a protective shield upon the sister missionaries as they follow the spirit and he invoked a blessing of el don de lenguas upon all missionaries learning a language! 

I can't wait to get out into the field and teach real people and work with members! It is awesome to hear the potential of the Kingdom of God on the earth and it is left up to us and our faith in order to spread the gospel. This week I realized that in the past I had no idea how much faith played a factor in everything! Faith is the first principle of the gospel and as we exercise faith it gives us power to overcome the world.

Yo amo este evangelio! Se que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es el reino de Senor que de nuevo se ha establecido sobre la tierra. Se que el principio de fe es muy poderoso. Se que a traves el evangelio los hijos de hombres pueden ser salvados.

I love you all and I pray each night for family and friends and even for Texas. This gospel answers every concern in every heart and brings happiness to those who live it. I can't wait to get more pictures from the family and to hear from everyone how they're doing!

Love Elder Mark Cooley

P.S. Hymn 72 is awesome

Chase got his call to Washington Tacoma?! That is soo awesome!! He will be a great missionary and he better write me. And I assume Sean will get his call soon, I got a DearElder from him a while back and it sounds to be that way. This is all great news!

Life in the MTC is pretty good. Went to the temple this morning and it was basically the best session; I have learned so much this week!

So, the first day in the MTC Elder Simmons and I taught our first lesson to a lone elder who was studying on the grass at night.  Anyways, we got to know him and taught him a lesson filled with the spirit.  He was headed to Philadelphia English speaking and throughout our stay we would see him around and we became friends. Well he left a couple weeks ago and last week we got a letter from him telling us how his call had been changed to Spanish and that he was learning it really fast in the field.  He expressed thankfulness to us for being friends and it was really a cool letter to get.

We got a new district this past week and Elder Simmons and I had the opportunity to do orientation for them.  They are a stellar district; they remind me of our district oh so long ago (6 weeks ha).  One of them was in my EFY group when I went the first time at BYU.  I didn’t recognize him but he remembers me because everyone would hit on my sister (Diana); brought up some memories.

Two elders in our zone where feeling homesick this week so Elder Simmons and I gave them blessings, fasted for them, and prayed a lot. God answers prayers.  On Sunday Stephen B. Allen (an awesome man who was mission pres. of the Tempe mission and is now managing director of missionary department) spoke for the fireside. He told us that when we feel homesick and want to go home that is only Satan pushing our buttons because he knows how much success we will have in bringing others unto Christ and he does all he can to make us quit. Bro. Allen addressed their concerns basically word for word and referenced Alma 26:27-30ish. I love everything about this work.  The hard times have a purifying power and the good times make you appreciate life and the plan of salvation.

Un conocimiento de la expiacion de Jesucristo es muy importante por los gentes del mundo y a traves la expacion podemos tener la vida eterna.  Yo se que Jesucristo es mi Salvador y Redentor.  Yo se que puedo vivir con mi familia por eternidad.

I love my mission and I can’t wait to hear how the Lord has been blessing your lives. If anyone has time, DearElder.com is nice because they get here fast and such.  I love you all! One of my favorite scriptures of this week is DyC 128:28-29 (I think) "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" and also DyC 31 is pretty good also as related to missionary work.

Anyways love ya all and keep it up,

Love Elder Cooley

A wicked hail storm and a tornado?! That is pretty intense, wish I could’ve seen that. It rained quite a bit last week here, so that was nice. Troy will be a great boy and example for sure. I love the temple, we had the opportunity to go this morning and it was probably the best session I've had so far at the MTC and they've all been way good, but I just felt the Saviors love so strongly as I sat in there pondering and reading some scriptures.

So this past week has been awesomebroso (a made up Spanish word we heard a sister using). On Tuesday night we heard from Elder Neuenshwander on how to be more successful missionaries and he gave some great advice and things I can work on. Then after we had a district meeting and shared some of our thoughts and feelings about the fireside and then after our branch president, Pres. Horne, pulled me and Elder Simmons into another room. I thought we were going to get in trouble for something, but instead he asked us to be the next Zone Leaders. So currently we are zone leaders in training until next Sunday. I'm excited to be able to serve the other elders in my zone. I know I'll have to rely on the Savior a lot and such. I hope you all take time to look for the ways the Lord has blessed your lives, it's amazing to see how much He has when you stop and look.

Also this week we listened to a couple devotionals from Elders Holland and Bednar from a year or so ago that they gave in the MTC (I guess you can only watch them in the MTC so not sure you'll be able to find them). Elder Holland had 2, one called "Missions are Forever" and "The Miracle of a Mission". Those were amazing!! I love Elder Holland. He is very passionate about his mission and how it set the tone for the rest of his life. He said something like, “Everything good in my life has come as a result of my mission", then he said that’s only if you make it that way. He has a lot of good stuff of relating missionary work to the work that Christ performed on the earth, just on a much smaller scale; but as disciples of Jesus Christ we must be willing to take a few steps up the hill of Calvary. Then Elder Bednar talked about how to distinguish between the Holy Ghost and our own thoughts. He said "Quit worrying about it! You be a good boy, you obey the commandments, you keep your covenants, and the Lord will guide your steps and put utterance into your mouth when you don’t even know it’s happening. If our thoughts are good, then our actions will be good; and everything that is good comes from God".

Entonces, Yo se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo es el reino de Dios en la tierra. Yo se que familias son eternas. Yo se que Tomas S. Monson es nuestro profeta en la tierra hoy. Yo so que a traves el expiacion de Jesucristo podemos tener felicidades. I love you all and stay true to the faith and close to the spirit.

Love,

Elder Mark Cooley


I get to go to this place!



Yo y mi companero had somewhat matching ties. Same brand and
basically same pattern, just different colors. We received many
compliments because we were being companionship-minded. 

First of all, conference was amazing!! I loved every single talk and I noticed how everything is tied into missionary work. I only have 23 mins left but one thing I noticed at the start was how all the talks were about following the prophet and then when the prophet spoke he talked about gratitude. I've noticed that's one thing I need to work on and especially if it’s what the prophet says. So that’s my goal is to express more gratitude and also to be an example of the believer as I go about being a representative of Jesucristo.

That is sooo awesome that dad was able to talk with Steve! I pray about everyone at home and I have no doubt the Lord is blessing you all. I got the package! Thanks!  Definitely helped because I started getting sick the day after I got it, but I prevented it.

It'd be nice to get more letters because I have more time to write with letters than with emails, and I don’t have very many people’s addresses.

Mae is 1? Man, things fly when you’re on a mission!

Mom and Dad, I am so grateful for everything you have done for me, all the lessons you have taught me, and all the love you've shown.  Oh yeah, one thing I'd like to have would be some pictures of everyone! Basically just the whole fam and every niece and nephew and such, yeah the works.

So the Sunday fireside last night was all about hymns, it was way awesome. It was great to sing some of my favorite hymns with thousands of other missionaries and to feel the spirit that comes from them.

I love you all and continue to live righteously and to be more Christlike, we all have room for improvement. Being on a mission is the greatest thing ever and it’s only been 3 weeks so I'm stoked for everything to come!

Love, Elder Mark Cooley

Sounds like y'all are having fun back home! That's awesome that the 67th ward dissolved, well they might not feel that way but that'd be a huge blessing for every other ward. How's the shed coming along? How's everyone in the fam doing? Yeah we get to go to the temple every p-day, so we went today and last week at 7 am.  I love the temple so much! So many of the things in there can be related to missions and how we are to serve them. 
Anyways, so my companion, Elder Simmons, is pretty bold.  While we were waiting in line for lunch he got up on the wall, he's a crazy good rock climber, and he basically got everyones attention then bore his testimony and expressed his appreciation for all the other elders and sisters for coming on missions. 
In the past week we watched a devotional given in 2000 by Elder Holland called "The Miracle of a Mission". It was basically the greatest thing I've ever heard and I guess you can only watch it here in the MTC. He talked about how much his mission blessed his life and basically said "Dont you dare go home!" ha I love Elder Holland. We've had a bunch of awesome speakers and I'm loving it.
I've had many spiritual experiences teaching lessons and even contacting. We did our first contact in spanish in a place called the Teaching Resource Center, TRC, and basically the people are volunteers from the community. We contacted her in spanish and we were talking about families and I kinda started getting a little teary eyed and just happy when I testified that families could be together forever. Then we taught a missionary companionship. Elder Schneider, from Scottsdale, was playing his friend Paul as the investigator and his comp. was the member present. We started teaching the first lesson and he had some very good questions that were kinda hard to answer but we told him we'd answer them next time. Then we were talking about the Book of Mormon some how (it was an out of order lesson). I started talking about Joseph Smith and I started to recite the First Vision, the spirit was sooo strong! About halfway through Paul started crying, then we invited to read and pray and then a soft commitment to baptism.  After the lesson was over Elder Schneider told us he was about to end the lesson by saying he had to go to work because he was uninterested but right as I shared the First Vision he just couldnt deny the spirit. So it was really a testimony to me of how we need to rely on the spirit to convert the person. 
Yesterday we had mission conference and then a fireside by the managing director of the missionary department, Stephen B. Allen, it was way awesome and inspiring.
I'm pretty excited for general conference next week and cant wait to learn! If I had come into the MTC a week earlier I would have had the opportunity to be in the choir that will sing at priesthood session but I was too late. It's kind of a bummer, but oh well. One of my zone leaders and other elders in my zone are in it and it'll be cool to see them up there.
My favorite scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 33:1. It's a good one.
Anyways my time is up and I will write again in a week! Also I'll probably send some pictures this week, so be prepared. I know the Lord will bless you all as you strive to be obedient, every blessing comes from obedience.
-Elder Mark Cooley

Howdy! So today is Monday, my p-day. Just waiting for the laundry right now. So everythings been going great and such. The first few days seemed like eternity but once it hit Friday its been going by faster. So my companion is Elder Simmons, he is basically my better half. In my district there are 6 elders y 3 hermanas. Me, my companion, and Elder Dalley in my district are all going to Houston Texas South so thats awesome that we'll be going together and such. Elder Simmons is super goal oriented so our time here has been very productive.  So basically our district is the best, Elder Thacker is the District Leader and he is a great leader, very humble and always willing to serve. Me, Elder Dalley, and Elder Snasal are the senior companions and still learning our responsibilities.  It has been way spiritual and awesome! I am so excited for the next 2 years of life as I become more acquainted with the Savior and his gospel. I am loving the spanish language and all the learning.  Me and Elder Simmons have already memorized our purpose and the first vision (in english and spanish)! El comida es muy bien. For gym time we play this epic 4 square game, its basically 9 square.  Thanks for all the love and support, I dont really know what to say but if you have any specific questions than feel free to ask.  So far we can pray and bear our testimony in spanish along with just basic getting to know people stuff and such. I've seen a lot of Elders from Mesa and even an hermana so its cool to see people you know from back home.  Hope all is well at home and send everyone my love, El evangelio es verdadero.  Obedience is key. Love, Elder Cooley

Yo y mi companero en nuestro residencia.  This was the first night, after one of the longest days of my life.